This is the end of an era, the end of Republican rule. For more than 25 years the racist, reactionary, anti-working class agenda of the Republicans dominated the political life of this country. Since Reagan, everything progressive and good was under attack – from women’s right to choose, to public education, to social security. The social movements were very much on the defensive and fighting off attacks. We will need to continue to invest ourselves in movements for social change, but the political atmosphere will be different.

The big shift for the Republicans came not at home, but over in Iraq. The Iraqi resistance fought with their lives to defeat the Bush/Cheney plans for domination and oil profits. This stopped Bush and the Republican agenda dead in its tracks on the home front too. There were no more big attempts to roll back the reforms like social security, which working people won decades ago. For people at home and abroad, the defeat of McCain represents the American people’s rejection of the ‘Bush doctrine’ and the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Across America, African American people and others are noisily celebrating the victory of Barack Obama, the first Black president. Did you see the victory celebration in Chicago? A great pride is bursting forth from African American communities and throughout the Black Belt South. African Americans are not alone in their joy either; all types of people are doing fist bumps and feeling good. Other oppressed nationalities that suffer racism and discrimination – Chicanos and Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans, Native-Americans and Asian- Americans are sharing the moment. Obama’s election represents a blow against racism and white chauvinism.

Obama’s victory is stunning and it also brings tremendous benefit to the Democratic party. It builds on elections two years ago when the Republicans suffered defeat and lost congressional majorities to the Democrats. The Democrats swept this election too, making their majorities stronger. Democrats will truly rule – hardly needing to consult with the Republicans to pass legislation.

There is a problem however, and it is not that one party is too strong. The problem is that the Democrats are the other party of big business. The Democrats are favored at this time by the billionaires and millionaires who actually rule the U.S. The wealthy elite rules the U.S. through the two-party system. It is true there is competition, but elections are largely predicted by who has the most money from the rich people. The defeat of the Republicans certainly marks a big shift, but it does not fundamentally alter the system or challenge the rule of the rich. The Democrats are the party of the $700 billion bailout that will tax working people to save bankers. The Democrats are the party that could have cut war funding and brought the troops home already. A million Iraqis are dead and the Democrats continue to fund the occupation.

So we need to continue the motion that defeated McCain and delivered the White House for Barack Obama. We need to build an understanding that a vocal, independent and active anti-war movement will be needed to bring ALL the troops home now. We need to bring the immigrants’ rights movement into the streets again, defeating both fear and the dreaded deportations that are breaking apart families. We need to prepare to rally and march and protest so workers can win legislation to make forming unions a simple democratic process without intimidation from bosses. And we need to fight every attempt on the part of the rich to shift the burden of the economic crisis on to the backs of poor and working people.

Who gets elected is important, but it is the masses that make history. We cannot just return to our living rooms to watch the History Channel. We must build every movement that demands peace, justice, equality and liberation.

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The Republicans are desperate to turn around their decline, after losing big in the November 2006 congressional elections. More recently they lost three special elections, one each in Mississippi and Louisiana as well as the seat held by former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois. The American people are frustrated by the Iraq war, worried about the economy and angry about corruption. The writing is on the wall. It may be in misspelled English, and it may be on the wall of a destroyed house in Iraq, but it is clear that the U.S. occupation is going down and taking the Republicans with it.

So up steps John McCain to receive the Republican crown. McCain is the war and occupation candidate. He is determined to carry forward the Bush agenda and is dedicated to the occupation in Iraq for “maybe 100 years.” “That would be fine with me,” McCain said at a January 2008 campaign stop. More recently McCain changed his tune with a plan to get troops home by 2013 – just in time for the next presidential election. We ask, “Who is he trying to fool?” McCain is more of the same – more war, repression, inequality and tax cuts for the rich. The same tired, worn out politics. Besides, have you seen this man when he gets angry?

On Nov. 4, 2008 we are calling for a vote against McCain. The stage is set to vote out the Republicans and to reject their reactionary agenda of war, immigrant bashing, rolling back the rights of women, racist inequality, discrimination against gays and lesbians and poverty. A vote against McCain will create better conditions for working class and oppressed people to make change in our society. Most importantly, we are calling for a vote against McCain because it will be seen as a referendum on the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Four years, let alone 100 years, is too long to wait.

Barack Obama is on track to be the candidate of the Democratic Party, the other party of big business. This is despite Hillary Clinton’s racist demonization campaign of Obama and his supporters – the distorted attacks on Reverend Wright and the ideas of Black liberation theology, ‘voter registration’ campaigns designed to confuse Black voters and turn them away from the polls and Hillary’s racist appeals to “hard working Americans, white Americans.”

While Hillary Clinton has sunk to her lowest, Barack Obama has risen to answer the attacks and prompted uncomfortable discussions at coffee shops, lunch counters and dinner tables across the country. The United States was built on national oppression: the seizure of land from Native Americans, the slave labor of Africans, the exploitation of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. The struggle against racism and for equality are not just struggles of the past, they continue today, as seen in the fight for immigrant rights, justice for Katrina survivors and against the harassment of Arab Americans and American Muslims.

The facts are plain; Obama parts ways, to a degree, with Clinton on the Iraq War, free trade agreements and racism. He has a message of hope with wide appeal. However, Obama operates well within the confines of the Democrats and their big business backers. That said, his election will create a better political climate for the anti-war, immigrant rights, labor and national movements. And no matter who is in the White House, it is important for progressives to stay active and to fight for an agenda that places the peoples needs first.

Say no to war, racism, discrimination and reaction! Vote against McCain!

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2008 Elections: Celebrate our Victories, Continue the Struggle!

November 9, 2008

An historic victory has been won through struggle. Millions of people, from all sectors of society, organized and mobilized to defeat McCain and elect Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States. The message from the masses is clear: a rejection of the war on Iraq, a repudiation of Bush’s domestic and foreign policy, and a resounding ‘no’ to the Republican agenda and the right wing. The result is a powerful blow to racism and white supremacy, and an inspiration to oppressed nationalities and youth in this country.

As members of Students for a Democratic Society, we too are celebrating this historic victory. We are proud knowing that in a small way, the organizing work we do every day helped contribute to this success. Since Martin Luther King Jr. day in 2006, when SDS was re-founded, hundreds of chapters and thousands of SDS members have organized to bring about radical change on campus and in the community. We have worked hard to build the antiwar movement, support immigrants rights, empower workers, struggle against racism, stop environmental destruction, end the oppression of LGBTQ-identified people, and put into practice our democratic and egalitarian ideals. All this organizing work over the past two years, on over 100 campuses, helped win over many students to progressive politics, and in turn helped turn out the vote against McCain and reaction this fall.

When election season came into full swing, some of us decided to become more directly involved, so we formed a working group in SDS and started pulling together resources. We wrote blog posts, tabled, agitated, distributed flyers and leaflets, protested McCain campaign events, and worked to create an antiwar, anti-McCain sentiment on campus. Relative to the number of campuses that exist in the US, and compared to the activity of the Obama campaign itself, these efforts were small. But they were important nonetheless because we helped build a progressive movement independent of the Democratic Party.

Despite this, there were some progressives who thought it was a mistake to build the campaign to defeat McCain and elect Obama. Why? Because, in their view, Obama is just another politician who is out to fool the people and serve the rich and powerful. Obviously we disagree with this simplistic analysis, but it does have a material basis. We understand that the Democratic Party represents the interests of big business. We know that Obama voted for the $700 billion bailout for the capitalists on Wall Street, while working people were left in the cold. We recognize that Obama plans to continue the occupation of Iraq and to escalate the war in Afghanistan, even as massacres of Afghani and Iraqi civilians are a daily occurrence under the occupation. We have not forgotten that on so many issues of critical importance to working and oppressed people, the Democratic Party stands on the wrong side. That’s why in building the movement to defeat McCain, we also educated those around us about the Democratic Party’s history and the need to build our movements independently of the Democrats.

Taking into account these and other weak points in Obama’s program, we looked at the elections and recognized it basically came down to three things. One, it was a referendum on Bush’s policies, including the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Two, for the past months the financial crisis has had a huge impact on peoples lives. So in many ways, this election became a struggle between McCain’s stubborn head-in-the-sand insistence that “our economy is strong,” on the one hand, and the importance of working against the privatization and de-unionization that have characterized the so-called Republican Revolution, on the other. And three, it was a true battle between the progressive forces of anti-racism and those of white supremacy. Those reasons alone should have been enough for any progressive to unite with the Obama movement and against the ‘100 years’ in Iraq, the anti-worker policies, and the racism of McCain’s campaign. We also recognized that the elections would be the main issue on campuses and in society as a whole, and that to sit on the sidelines would spell isolation and alienation.

What did we achieve? By organizing outside of the Obama campaign, we helped strengthen independent, grassroots student organizations that can struggle for, and win, change. We brought new activists and organizers forward. We raised the level of consciousness and struggle. We helped shift the center on campuses farther to the left. Our gains are modest but they are victories too and will help us in the battles that lie ahead.

For everyone who helped make the Obama victory possible, it must be said that our work would be for nothing if we stopped here. We agree with Barack Obama who said on election night, “This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change.” It is the masses who make history, not the president. We recognize the power of the people from the millions who took to the streets to protest the Iraq war, to demand full equality for immigrants rights, who mobilized to support those left stranded after Hurricane Katrina. We – the masses of people, organized and in struggle – are the ones who will make the change we need.

And so for that we appeal to all the students and youth who organized for Obama, who worked to defeat McCain, who went door-to-door and made the phone calls that made the difference – now is not the time to rest. War, economic crisis, exploitation, oppression, and the problems facing us today are very real, and it is far beyond the means and will of this government, whether it is ruled by Democrats or Republicans, to address them. As Frederick Douglass said, “Without struggle, there is no progress.” As members of SDS we recognize this essential truth and will continue to build the movements for justice.

As Bush prepares to leave office, we need to be prepared for any US aggression against Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria. We should also give Bush a sending off that is fitting for the eight years of destruction that he left behind, both here at home and abroad. And when Obama takes office, one of our first priorities needs to be sending a clear message, “US Out of Iraq AND Afghanistan”. We don’t want the war in Iraq to wind down so that the occupation of Afghanistan can be strengthened – we want an end to all occupations and ALL the troops brought home now, and not a single more life cut down by the bombs and bullets of American empire.

So today let us celebrate this blow against the right wing; tomorrow we have to keep doing what we know works: organizing the mass movements for social justice and equality, and constructing a movement of millions to take the power back to the people.

Stop the War, Stop McCain working group,

Students for a Democratic Society

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